Long story short: No, you’re not imagining things. It feels colder than you think, due to three main reasons:

Wind chill

Cloud cover

Precipitation

We decided to delve a little deeper into what the Redditor said to examine how true his statements are.

1. Wind chill caused by monsoon surge

What’s a monsoon surge, you ask? Well, according to The Straits Times, it’s when a “sudden increase in wind speed causes the cold air to surge southwards into the South China Sea”.

As the air moves towards Singapore, it forms rain clouds.

So basically, it’s kinda like how the Sumatran haze gets blown over at us every year. Only, it’s the nice and breathable version of it.

The monsoon surge brings wind, which is the main reason you’re convinced it feels colder than what your weather app is telling you.

This is known as wind chill, which can also be referred to as the “feels like temperature”. So even though your app says its 22°C, it actually feels like 18°C. You can rest assured that it’s not your mind playing tricks on you.

If you think of it in terms of the heat and how humidity makes it worse, wind chill does the same thing, making it feel colder.

This happens every time the wind hits bare skin, cooling the temperature of your skin to that of your surroundings. Which means that if it’s windy at 22°C, your body can’t cope with it because the average human core temperature should be at 37°C.

2. Cloud cover hides the sun

Cloud cover just means no sun = cold.

The more it rains, the cloudier it is. Jurong West was even reported to have lower temperatures than other parts of Singapore because of cloud cover. With the sun hiding behind the clouds, there’s an absence of warmth.

According to ST, cloud cover creates a cooling effect, which reduces the heat that sunshine normally provides.

Let’s compare standing in the shade versus standing directly under the hot sun. You’d probably end up sweating more due to the direct heat. Rather than if you were taking shelter under the shade. This is exactly the effect that cloud cover has on our current weather.

Don’t worry though, this is pretty much as chill as it gets here. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Singapore was 19°C, in 1989. Odds of it snowing here, are even lower.